Port Identification - Berry Bros. & Rudd (BBR)

	Berry Bros. & Rudd shop front at 3 St James St., London

Since regulations introduced in 1974 all port must now be bottled in Portugal prior to shipping to the UK. Prior to 1974 it was more typical for the port to be shipped in pipes (barrels of around 550L) which would be transported to the UK and then bottled by a UK merchant. Many such bottlers existed, and often the wine would still be sold either under the original brand with the bottler mentioned in small type: "Fonseca 1966 vintage port, bottled by Berry Bros. & Rudd", or sometimes would be sold under the merchant's own brand, such as "Berry's Own Selection 1970 vintage port, bottled by Berry Bros. & Rudd" (which happened to be Warre's 1970 vintage port).

	Fonseca 1966 vintage port, bottled by BBR	Berry's Own Selection 1970 (actually Warre 1970) vintage port, bottled by BBR

Berry Bros. & Rudd (BBR) is one such bottler, and a particularly interesting one as they would do both. BBR are a highly regarded wine and spirits merchant based in London, and have a rich history with the trade, being one of the oldest wine merchants in the UK; they are also extremely knowledgeable and helpful, and have a wonderful shop and (several) cellars in St. James Street, London, which are well worth a visit if you have the opportunity.

This page details the information gathered by the author on the the brand of port in "Berry's Own Selection vintage port", and the colour of the capsules known to have been used for bottlings by BBR (whether original brand or Berry's own selection), to aid identification of old unlabelled bottles.

Berry's Own Selection vintage port - supplier by vintage

Table of suppliers for known Berry's Own Selection vintage ports:

Notes:

1. An original list supplied by BBR to a member of ThePortForum provided the years from 1960 to 2003 per above, except see note 2.
2. The original BBR-supplied list erroneously indicated 1975 to be Gould Campbell; BBR have subsequently confirmed this was an error.
3. Earlier and more recent years have been added based on information from labels on bottles seen at auction, and photos sent to me.
4. According to "the book" (Wiseman, J. D. A. (2018) Port Vintages: The Chronicle of Vintage Ports, from the beginning), Berry's own selection vintage port was also available for vintages 1917, '20, '24, '27 and '35, though no evidence has yet been seen for pre-1935 vintages.
5. Berry Bros. (pre-Rudd) are known to have bottled Rebello Valente 1927, and Fonseca 1927, but is unknown whether either of these were sold under the Berry's own selection brand.
6. The capsule used on Berrys Own Selection Vintage Port 1935 has been seen at least three times; once on the labelled bottle (supplier unknown, bottle not opened), once on a bottle with no label where the cork indicated it was Taylor '35, and also on several bottles interspersed with other (non-BBR) bottles of Taylor 1935; so BBR at least bottled Taylor 1935, but it is not yet known whether the Berry's Own Selection 1935 was in fact Taylor 1935.

BBR capsule colours

Table of known capsule colours for BBR-bottled vintage ports. These have all been see either directly by myself, or in photo. Where possible I have included a photo of the bottle (or label) and capsule as evidence; there are a small number which I have seen but do not have pictures for, hence some gaps below.

Vintage	Brand	Capsule colour	Bottle/Label	Capsule
1935	(BOS?)Taylor	Black
1947	Noval	Black
1947	Smith Woodhouse	(Pink?)
1947	Warre	(Black?)
1955	Croft	Silver
1955	Fonseca	Yellow (vibrant)
1955	Graham	Red
1955	Noval	Black
1955	Taylor	Black or Dark Green
1960	BOS(Rebello Valente)	Silver
1960	Croft	Dark Blue
1960?	Dow	Black
1960	Fonseca	Black
1960	Taylor Fladgate	Black
1960	Sandeman	Green (bright)
1960	Warre	Salmon Pink
1963	BOS(Taylor)	Red (maroon)
1963	Croft	Orange (faded red?)
1963	Delaforce	Black
1963	Dow	Yellow, also Silver/Grey
1963	Graham	Dark blue
1963?	Noval	Red (maroon)
1963	Rebello Valente	Yellow (dark), also Orange (orange-brown), also Brown
1963	Sandeman	Yellow (bright)
1963	Taylor Fladgate	White
1963	Warre	Dark Green
1966	BOS(Warre)	Black, also Brown
1966	Croft	Dark blue (also Black?)
1966	Dow	Orange, also Yellow (bright)
1966	Fonseca	Green
1966	Gould Campbell	Black
1966	Graham	Red/Bronze
1966	Noval	Red (maroon)
1966	Offley Boa Vista	Green
1966	Taylor Fladgate	Salmon Pink
1966	Warre	Red (dark)
1967	Cockburn	Black
1967	Quinta de Vargellas	Red
1969	Quinta de Vargellas	Dark blue
1970	BOS(Warre)	Pink (salmon)
1970	Delaforce	Orange/Red, also Pink (salmon)
1970	Dow	Pink (salmon)
1970	Fonseca	Pink (salmon), and Orange/Red
1970	Graham	Pink (salmon)
1970	Rebello Valente	Orange
1970	Sandeman	Pink (salmon)
1970	Taylor Fladgate	Pink (salmon)
1970	Warre	Pink (salmon)

Notes:

1. The Taylor 1935 had no label and only the (old style) BBR capsule, with shipper/vintage identified from cork; the capsule matches with those seen on Berry's Own Selection 1935 elsewhere already believed to be probably Taylor for other reasons, so it seems likely that this was a Berry's Own Selection 1935, though not yet proven.
2. The Warre 1947 capsule was wax, and it was unclear whether this was the original or not.
3. The vintage on the Dow 1960 cork was not completely clear; while fairly sure it was 1960, it might just have been 1950 (though this seems unlikely).
4. The Noval 1963 listed is from a Sothebys auction, named from cellar records; however it was unlabelled, and without seeing the cork there is the possibility of an error in cellar/auctioneer notes since this would also match Noval '66, so this is only a "perhaps".

If any reader has additional knowledge, and particularly if they can supply images of bottle/label/capsule as evidence for other BBR bottlings, I would be very pleased to hear from you.